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I use Hallowe'en as a way to encourage artistic expression in my children. As they grow older, I continue to encourage them to dress-up and I model this by accompanying them in costume. However, as they grow older, the focus changes from them being the ones asking for candy to them creating more elaborate costumes and being chaperones for the little ones who ...

A little sister huh? What are you waiting for? ;)
The answer to me depends on whether she's old enough to know that her expectations aren't realistic or not. If she is then I'd simply say that those aren't things that Santa is likely to be able to do and she might want to think about other things she might like to put on the list. I'd expect her to think of ...

Have him be with you when you write the thank you notes. Help him draw a picture or sign his name to the card, so that he can take part. That way he's giving back a little. There is joy in the giving that he may relate to.
It's also good to help him understand who the people are who care about him. Some parents have a tradition with their children where ...

There's an age at which you just can't teach them. Social lying vs. bad lying is a really, really tough one for kids. If you are very lucky, by the time your child is 8 or 9 years old, he/she will be socially aware enough to understand that:
A person gives you a gift for a desired effect (hopefully, to have done something nice, or to make the recipient ...

I actually believe he does exist in a way similar to that depicted in the article, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus." So, when my daughter asked about it at five I said, "what do you think" she said, "I think he is real." Two weeks ago when she asked at six and said, "I don't know Mom" I responded by telling her the story of St. Nicholas and fessing ...

Creating Santa is about making magic. When kids finally figure out there is no Santa, you can explain that they are right, Mum and Dad were just making magic for them, and now that they have figured it out, they get to be like the grown-ups and help make magic for younger children. While saddened by the realization that there is no Santa, they will be ...

We had Baby Banz too, but my baby didn't like to keep them on.
Evolution has a nice way of protecting baby's eyes even without sunglasses; pupils contract in bright light, preventing excess UV exposure. And babies can close their eyes if it's too bright for them, which they will do. So I wouldn't worry too much about the sunglasses, especially since you ...

Your child is still very young and the eyes are continuing to develop. As pointed out in the comments, keeping glasses on her can be a challenge. Whether it's a translucent cloth that's very breathable (I don't know what they are called, but think of a sunshade type cloth), sunglasses or something else, you should absolutely protect her eyes.
Keep in mind ...

Would it be possible to go ahead and allow the other kids to go ahead and start enjoying their presents while this one set of cousins continues to open their presents? I mean, it seems ridiculous to me that one family is allowed to monopolize the time of everyone else because their parents are spoiling them rotten (ok, maybe they're not, but it certainly ...

Talk to the parents beforehand Preferably sometime a days or weeks in advance, not ten minutes before they're leaving, discuss your concerns with sis in law. Explain your concerns: your kids feeling jealous, bored, less appreciative of their own gifts, etc. Obviously, your goal is not to stifle your sis in law's generosity (and make sure she knows this), but ...

I think that a child will make it clear that they would rather go to a Halloween party than to trick or treating. Having seen engineers and artists, and artistic engineers, creating some fantastic costumes, I don't think that there's an upper age limit on Halloween - even the dead and undead can be found at such parties.
Simply put, I think your child will ...

This is a great article on how to teach children how to show appreciation and teach them ahead of time.
http://familyfun.go.com/magazine/familyfun-magazine-archive/familyfun-december-january-2010/the-art-of-gratitude-807117/

For us, we explain that Santa is all of us. That Santa is in fact still real, but not as a tangible human, more as an emotion or a motivation in us all. So parents fill the stockings - but not exclusively, since I fill my mother's stocking and she adds things to the ones I helped to fill. And we send "stocking extras" in parcels to be added to stockings when ...

I liked GdD's answer to this one if the problem was really a lack of understanding, but since it was actually the "high-ball technique" we woundd up just giving her two things (one from us, one from "santa") that we just knew she would enjoy. She learned, we couldn't be manipulated.
Then the Easter bunny brought the puppy ;-)

I find myself far less concerned with the older kids trick-or-treating than the parent with an infant who clearly should not be having candy coming to the door to get their candy.
I think a long as there is effort in dressing up and their are respectful, there is no problem with older kids going out. I do expect a thank you though and call kids out on it ...

My view is they are too old, when they decide they are.
We get a wide range of kids, although we don't give candy away - neither my wife and I really like to encourage that sort of thing, more importantly we get a small amount of treaters due to the location of our street. Buying candy means we'd eat most of it after, so we give away small decks of playing ...

The answer to your question becomes very easy if you take the events out of the religious context and into historic stories. These can be taught from very early age. They can be later expanded and deepened as the children grow older.
For example, Jesus Christ is a person that had a life story that can be told to very young children. Because he was a great ...

The appropriate time to explain the religious beliefs depends entirely upon the level of exposure your children have to adherents of those particular faiths.
Quite honestly, I still do not fully understand the religious significance of Ramadan, apart from it being a period of fasting (thanks, Wikipedia!). Also note that Kwanzaa is, to my understanding, ...